The Latest: Trump defends meeting, North Korea efforts

U.S. President Donald Trump, left, and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, right, pose for a photo during a visit to the tea house on the grounds of the Blue House in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, June 29, 2019. Trump is making a quick trip to Seoul after attending the G-20 summit in Osaka, Japan. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

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SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The Latest on President Donald Trump and North Korea (all times local):

1:50 p.m.

President Donald Trump is defending his decision to stage an historic meeting with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un at the demilitarized zone that separates the North and South, insisting that much progress has been made under his watch.

Trump is nonetheless downplaying the significance of the visit, saying, “It’s just a step.”

He says: “It might be an important step but it might not.”

Trump was asked during a news conference in Seoul about criticism that he is rewarding Kim with a photo-op, even as North Korea continues to test short-range missiles and refuses to give up its nuclear efforts.

Trump says the countries have nonetheless “made tremendous strides” and says it’s “insulting” to even compare where things stand now versus the situation two-and-a-half-years ago before he took office.

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1:35 p.m.

President Donald Trump says he’s looking forward to meeting with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un at the Korean Demilitarized Zone later Sunday.

Trump is telling reporters at a joint news conference with South Korean President Moon Jae-in that he and Kim will “just shake hands quickly and say hello” at the historic meeting at the Korean border village of Panmunjom.

And he’s praising the chemistry between him and Kim, saying “there’s a lot of good feeling.

The meeting will be the first at the DMZ between U.S. and North Korean leaders since the Korean War ended in an armistice in 1953.

Moon is also hailing Trump as “the peacemaker of the Korean peninsula,” and says he hopes Trump will go down in history as the president who managed to achieve peace on the Korean peninsula.

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1:15 p.m.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in says President Donald Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un will meet at the Korean Demilitarized Zone Sunday afternoon.

Moon says Kim accepted Trump’s invitation to meet when the U.S. president visits the heavily-fortified site at the Korean border village of Panmunjom.

Moon is praising the two leaders for “being so brave” to hold the meeting and says, “I hope President Trump will go down in history as the president who achieves peace on Korean Peninsula.”

Trump Saturday invited Kim to meet him at the border for a symbolic handshake. Trump also expressed openness to crossing into North Korean territory if Kim accepted, saying he’d “have no problem” becoming the first U.S. president to step into North Korea.

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11:45 a.m.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in says that a potential handshake between President Donald Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un at the Demilitarized Zone would represent “a significant milestone” and be an “historic event.”

Moon says as he and Trump sit down for talks in Seoul on Sunday that Trump’s tweet publicly suggesting the meeting represented a “big hope to the Korean people.”

And he says he can “really feel that the flower of peace was truly blossoming on the Korean peninsula.”

Trump is also telling reporters that both he and Kim would like to make their third face-to-face meeting happening during Trump’s long-planned visit to the DMZ, but that logistics and security issues remain.

He said: “There’s a possibility that it’s going to be very interesting.”

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10:35 a.m.

President Donald Trump says he believes North Korea’s Kim Jong Un wants to meet him when he visits the Demilitarized Zone on Sunday.

Speaking to Korean business leaders in Seoul, South Korea, Trump says, “I understand they want to meet and I’d love to say hello.”

He says if the meeting materializes it will be “very short,” adding, “let’s see what happens. They’re trying to work it out.”

Trump on Saturday invited Kim to meet him for a handshake at the heavily fortified armistice line between the Koreas.

The president has been trying to restart nuclear talks with the North after they broke down during his second summit with Kim earlier this year in Vietnam. The two leaders since have traded what they’ve described as flowery letters.

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11:35 p.m.

President Donald Trump and President Moon Jae-in (jah-YIHN’) of South Korea agree that Trump’s possible meeting on Sunday at the Demilitarized Zone with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un (gihm jung oon) would be a “good thing.”

That’s according to a South Korean presidential official, Yoon Do-han, who spoke to reporters in Seoul after the two presidents had dinner.